English hotels with alfresco dining

Milsoms

Essex

A family-run enterprise in the heart of Constable country, ‘Milsoms’
incorporates the 15-room Milsoms Hotel and, only a minute up the road, Le
Talbooth, a fine-dining restaurant on the banks of the Stour, and Maison
Talbooth, a 12-suite hotel with an outdoor heated pool, hot tub, tennis
courts and treatment rooms. Among all three locations, in this pretty pocket
of rural Essex near Colchester, there are multiple alfresco dining options.
For something relaxed, there’s the spacious terrace at the brasserie at
Milsoms Hotel, which serves ‘global cuisine’ made from local seasonal
produce, and for special occasions it has got to be the shady terrace next
to the river at Le Talbooth, a restaurant the family has run since 1952,
whose menu features hand-dived seared scallops, Suffolk pork belly and
fillet of Dedham Vale steak tartare. Treats on an equally inviting
children’s menu include toad in the hole, sole goujons and Eton mess. In
summer there’s a weekly riverside Sunday night barbecue, with hog
roasts, steaks, sausages and salmon and a live steel or jazz band.

Doubles from £115. Check the website for weekend packages including food,
spa treatments and more (01206-322795; milsomhotels.com)